USASTRATCOM

This blog was created for USASTRATCOM Long Lines Battalion Army personnel who served in Taiwan during the 1965-72 time frame. Specifically, those who lived and worked in and around Taipei are the target. If you worked at the Grass Mountain or Gold Mountain facilities or anywhere in downtown Taipei, we would like to hear from you. All are welcome to visit and contribute to this blog. Your comments and pictures are encouraged.

Wednesday, August 5, 2015

Vietnam War Era, Fort Gordon, Augusta, GA

Now that we are up to the Vietnam War Era, I am 22 years old. Whoa! I was certainly 22 back in 1968, but now am staring 70 right in the eye. That would make Vietnam Era vets in their 50s, 60s, 70s and some 80s. Korean vets are in their 80s mostly and WW2 vets are in their 90s if not the century mark. Kent Mathieu, who runs the taipeiairstation blog, has talked with me and others about how old our viewership is getting. Fortunately, we have wives and dependents of servicemen who served in Taiwan which gives us a much younger audience. In the years to come, some folks will blog about Desert Storm, Iraq and Afghanistan. The beat goes on.

This is my second letter from the government ordering me and millions of others to report for active duty in the military.Previously, we received the letter from President LBJ inviting us to take mental and physical exams in preparation for induction.

It was here in Ft. Jackson, SC that the friendly sergeants smiled as they welcomed us into the Army. For the next week, we all remembered some things and forgot others because of sleep deprivation. We took tests, received gear, became inoculated, got a 50 cent haircut, 2 pairs of glasses for us hard-to-see guys, and an introduction to KP. I became a back sink specialist. Finally, our names were called and the split into two groups for basic training. The first group stayed at Ft. Jackson and the second group piled into buses and took the ride down to Ft. Gordon.Only seven more weeks to go in basic training with an immediate Christmas leave assigned which cleaned out Fort Gordon of as many of the soldiers and civilians as possible.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises Inc

The photo above was scanned from my yearbook and pictures gate one, McKenna Gate. Below is stock photo of that same gate 50 years later.

Map from gordon.army.mil

In 1956, Camp Gordon became Fort Gordon, and the major areas of the fort remained pretty much the same by the time the Vietnam Era began around 1960-62.

This map with the colored sections is divided into areas that I am sure of. Although Fort Gordon became a big signal school center, I honestly don't remember the location of the buildings. The red section is the basic training area, with the 25 meter firing range to the left. Dozens upon dozens of barracks full of basic trainees lived here. The orange area is the training area for the Officers' Signal Corps. The purple section is the MP area including what was highlighted during the Korean War. It also includes Brems Barracks, not shown on the map above. The green circle is the hospital which was built in 1941 and was still being used 30 years later.

To the best of my knowledge, this is how the areas from the 1956 map would look when transposed onto a present-day photo of Fort Gordon.

I need much input from soldiers who were there during this period who know for sure the locations of the buildings where they received their training.

Photo from maxhitek.com

This is a good indication of what was going on at the Fort in 1962. The MP and Signal Schools were established and the 3rd Army basic training area was also up and running.

For certain this was a basic combat training area. The 25 meter range was within walking distance of our Company.

The other ranges and bivouac areas are further west.

Also, west of here was Camp Crocket and the series of popular lakes.

This is our old basic training area. In the yearbook, I jotted down the corner of 15th Street and 6th (Barnes) Avenue.Today it looks as though there are two settling ponds for some use where two of the four barracks once stood.

If you can follow the thin red line from 15th Street down through the green area and up to the gray area, you will see the footpath that went steeply down, then across an open area. It then climbed up the hill on the other side to the back of the enlisted men's club. We only knew about this because once we got into basic training for real, several guys went AOL every day and then would show up at the barracks at night to stay warm and get some food from guys who had relieved the Army of excess chow.This went on until the guys either came back on their own to face the consequences, or else came back with an MP escort to make sure justice would be served.

19thStreet was the center of entertainment for the various MOS hopefuls in Signal School who saw movies every night at the theater which is indicated here by red number one.

The yellow number two was the enlisted men's club and had previously been the library for the post.

The blue three was the sports arena which was basically a basketball court.

The orange four building was the chapel where most of us received a forceful suggestion to behave as we were being instructed.

The green area with pine trees on 3 sides of it was an ice cream stand which we all called the Dairy Queen.

It wasn't actually a DQ, but it had great ice cream cones and was a must when ducking duty or just enjoying yourself.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises Inc

This could have been our company. The two barracks at the top right of the picture are facing two more barracks across the grounds. The single story building next to the barracks is the combination day room, rifle room, and offices. The building to the left of the day room was the mess hall where we all got the chance to prepare and serve three meals each day, GI the floors after each meal and prepare for the next day's breakfast. I have never knowingly eaten real bacon since my back sink days of scrubbing grease from the bacon pans.To the left of the mess hall was the bedding and linens building where our laundry was picked up and returned.

Every piece of laundry was identified by first letter of your last name and the last four digits of your i.d. number.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises Inc

Lined up perfectly are tents and equipment in preparation for bivouac which meant spending a week in the field, getting lost in the forests and trying not to get wet or sick. However, the main purpose of this picture is to show the two huge buildings in the background. The first is the process-in process-out building and the second was a coal burning building for storage of large equipment and machinery.The entire basic training area was heated by individual furnaces and hot water heaters which burned coal as well. Soot was everywhere including up your nose and in your ears.

Photo from history.army.mil

The highlight of my bivouac week was my time digging a 1x1x1 cathole latrine with the entrenching tool at the right.

Instead of using the bivouac latrines in the middle picture, many did not want to use the ones that had toilet seats screwed into plywood.

In the evening there was plenty of lime to make my place as sanitary as possible. It was time to myself out in the field with nobody missing my presence.

Photo from justiceomercy.com

We covered up a huge pit which had been used as a dump for everything with sand, and marched back from the bivouac area to our barracks.

Basic training was now just about over. Soon we would get our orders for AIT, finish all testing and hand in our M-14 rifles.

To save you the trouble of finding your host among this sea of humanity, he is the one standing next to the red arrow. I think the group picture was more of a big deal with the Air Force at Lackland AFB and for the Navy at Great Lakes Training.

The hometown newspapers liked these pictures.

This was our yearbook as produced by Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

All attempts were made to contact this company since they have the rights to the pictures used in this book, but we had no luck finding them.

Since they are receiving credit for the rights to the pictures, there should be no problem because we are not making any money on this publication.

Basic Combat Infantry Training during the Vietnam War is shown partially by clickingHERE.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

Having been built 1941, the main headquarters building still looked good with the huge flag flying in front of it.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

This picture really doesn't due credit to theater number one. It was bigger than it looks and had current movies running almost every night.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

From this picture, it is easy to see the purpose of the left side of the building. The remaining side had many small rooms for reading, listening to records and playing chess and cards.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

Before we arrived, this building was the post library. It was strictly an enlisted men's club the time we were there.

On a previous picture, this building was number two.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

Looking the worst for wear, this sports arena was number three on 19th Street.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

Most of us got an orientation in this chapel which was number four on 19th Street.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

This new library was at the east side of the fort entrance.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

I believe this bowling alley is still being used today for the same purpose.

Photo from Albert Love Enterprises, Inc.

The PX was fairly new when we got there in 1968. It contained just about anything you would want other than food.

Until an MP soldier who trained here says otherwise, this is the area of the fort which was occupied by the MP school and turned out tens of thousands of MPs over the decades. Included in this updated picture is the Brems Barracks area all by itself off to the left.

Photo from cardcow.com

This U-shaped area of MP training was known as Brems Barracks. There were over 60 buildings of one-story concrete block construction with Quonset roofs.

This is sort of cheating, but the Brems Barracks are pointed out in this picture.

This is really taking liberties as the Brems Barracks area is shown on a Google map today.

Photo from flickr.com

The memorial plaque dedicating the barracks is shown here.

Photo from cardcow.com

Not sure if this is a combat basic training area or MP basic training or both. We had guys in the red basic training area who were then transferred to MP school. Help please.

Photo from 545thmpassn.com

This is something personal to the MPs at Fort Gordon.

Photo from 545thmpassn.com

The memorial sign itself appears to be in the Brems Barracks area.

Photo from rmpo.org

MP officers were trained at Ft. Gordon as shown here in a 1964-65 photo.

Photo from cardcow.com

Training in the MP section of Ft. Gordon during the Vietnam Era.

Photo from chronicleaugusta.com

MP training in 1972 with bayonets fixed.

Photo source unknown

These pictures of the MP "riot city" were downloaded about 5 years ago and now the MP in training who took them no longer has a webpage.

Although this was not part of our training, we would ride back and forth in the buses from signal school and see the MPs practicing crowd control.

Photo source unknown

Here is the backside of Main Street which held up pretty well to the onslaught of rioters.

Photo source unknown

If this is Friday, it must be graduation! Classes from signal school and MP school graduated in rotation which meant a group got their diplomas after 8 or more weeks of training.The graduation was held at the main theater on the post which can be seen to the right. This theater was also used for training and each night showed a movie.

The day we graduated the theater was packed and the post band played Watermelon Man which was well received by us who were just happy to graduate.

Photo from www.fortgordon.com

During the peak of the Vietnam War, Signal Officer training took place at Ft. Gordon.

Here is the area described on the plaque above which was home to Signal Officer training from 1965-68.

Photo from www.fortgordon.com

This page congratulates the officers-to-be.

Photo from armysignal.ocs.com

This publication of the Fort Gordon Rambler gives recognition to the officer training center.

From this diploma, you can see that the officer training school moved to Fort Monmouth, New Jersey for the next few years.

This diploma is in line with the moving of the signal corps to Fort Gordon since 1975 as the MP school moved to Ft. McClellan, Alabama.

On the last day of basic training, we cleaned our rifles until buses arrived to take us to the airport or the Greyhound station for AIT.

Many of us stayed at Ft. Gordon for signal school or MP school. Those of us who were to attend 72B signal school were given the short ride from15th Street and 6th Avenue to our new barracks on 23rd Street and 5th Avenue.

This would be our home for the next 8 weeks.

The gray block of buildings you see between 23rd and 25th Streets was nothing but an empty field back in 1968. Today it is a center of training and remembrance for the Signal Corps.

All Signal Corps training was moved from Ft. Monmouth, NJ to Ft. Gordon beginning in the 1970s and continuing until 2010.

Photo from cardcow.com

In almost any decade from WW2 on, pole city as we called it was always a very obvious indication that you were in the signal corps training area.

Page from www.fortgordon.com

Before the entire signal corps moved to Fort Gordon, the USASESS signal corps school had 18 different MOS positions being taught to 8500 personnel.

The longer training programs for technical control soldiers and those involved in microwave relay continued to be taught at Ft. Monmouth until a gradual relocation of the entire signal school training starting in the 1970s.

Photo source unknown

This picture was taken in the signal corps barracks area. When officers training moved in 1968, our group of 72B trainees inherited their natural gas heated barracks.

By fortune, this map of Fort Gordon shows how it looked at the end of the Vietnam War. All buildings and areas are accounted for, but not all can be found on the map.

Patches from eBay.com

The three roads on the map above have been named for the three divisions that originated at Camp Gordon in WW2.

13 comments:

You've covered the fort from gate to gate John. I love these old pictures and maps. I sent the maps of my daughter and asked her where he on-post home was located, I couldn't figure the maps out. The new family quarters are probably on "virgin" ground, where only pine trees once stood. There is a small lake quite close to the house they lived in though. Keep up the good work John. We appreciate your efforts very much.

I trained as an MP in 1960, then joined the 504th MP Battalion as a Permanent Party until they moved to Ft Lewis Washington in late 1963. At Gordon we only had wooden barracks, all gone now, John's site is well done, sorry he's gone.

I went through basic at Fort Gordon (after being bused from Fort Jackson)in Nov 1967 - whatever 1968...I don't recall. March I suspect. What a "s*^t hole". Then on to Fort Knox for Ait, and finally to the Republic of Vietnam, Sep 1968 - Sep 1969. So long ago.

I went thru AIT at Gordon for Signal (72G teletype operator) in 1983 - still were a bunch of WWII era buildings around but we were there for several months, so got to stay in the newer brick barracks by Barton Field on the side where the Signal School was...One thing I remember was having "Post Detail" once and spending several days riding around in a pickup truck with a permanent party SP4 with a pile of "Posted US ARMY" signs - we came across an old airfield complete with tower, hangars and other buildings - the strip was made of interlocking metal plates and hadn't been used in so long saplings were growing all over it - always wondered when it was last used?

I was inducted into the Army in Coral Gables Fl. April 30,1968. Flown up to Columbia SC, Ft. Jackson, Arrived in the middle of the night. We were taken to a warehouse to receive a used uniform that generally didn't fit and a ball cap that made me look like an organ grinders monkey. Finally in another day we got an issue of clothes that fit. After all the tests they called out several guys and we were taken into a big tent and offered OCS. We could pick Infantry, Artillary or Corps of Engineers. I declined and the next day a bunch of us were pulled out and sent south on a bus to Ft. Gordon for our basic. They said something about no space left at Jackson. I was assigned to 4th platoon, Company A, 1st Battalion, 1st Brigade. I think first platoon was made up of a lot of guys that didn't speak English very well from Puerto Rico.My best memory was after getting our platoon assignment we went to our barracks. Now these buildings had long past their prime, if they ever had a prime time and we knew if they ever caught fire that it would be a cinder in about 3 minutes. They were old heart pine and right above my bunk some guy had carved into the wall board "Kilroy was Here" with a nice little picture of Kilroy. Had to have been WW2 camper. Our platoon Sgt. called us around for a meeting and told up about not smoking in the building and asked for a volunteer to be fireman. Well every body looked around as not to be interested. I went against the instructions that I had received from a friends father and WW2 vet, not to volunteer for anything and not to bend over in the shower to pick up the dropped soap bar. I raised my hand and the Sgt. asked my name and I was then the platoon fireman. My duties were only to see to it that the coal fired water heater was fired and heating water for showers at the end of the day. That meant I was always released early from anything we were doing and brought back to the barracks to start the boiler fire. Every guy in the platoon wished they had raised their hand when they found out that it got me out of a lot of stuff that they had to go through, like gas attack training. Just dumb luck. In a few months its going to be 50 years ago. In this world time marches on. (no pun intended)